There are a variety of electrical connectors which have flexible terminals with spring contact portions provided for surface engagement with a contact element of a mating connector component. Although, theoretically, any pair of interengaging contacts necessarily are surface engageable, such terms as "surface engagement" or the like herein are meant to define interengaging contacts wherein the contact surfaces engage in a generally perpendicular or abutting relationship, versus contacts which slide over each other during mating such as pin and socket contacts.
For instance, in a portable or mobile telephone apparatus, a handset conventionally is inserted into a cradle, whereby fairly rigid, usually planar, contacts are moved into abutment ("surface engagement") with flexible contacts in the cradle of the base unit. Another example is in a battery charger for various applications, such as telephones, video recorders, or the like, wherein a battery pack has fairly rigid planar contacts movable into abutting surface engagement with flexible contacts of a battery recharger.
In such environments as mobile telephone apparatus, video recorder applications and the like, it can be understood that contamination of the contact surfaces is an ongoing problem. Consequently, even though the contacts are surface engageable or abutting during mating, it is desirable to provide some sort of wiping action between the contacts to facilitate a better electrical connection therebetween. In order to provide a wiping action, the flexible contact usually is designed to provide some sort of transverse movement during flexing, i.e. transverse to the generally perpendicular direction of engagement of the contacts. Providing such movement creates further problems in that the use of surface engageable contacts, in such applications or environments as described above, exposes the contacts to engagement by foreign objects which may deform the contacts. This problem further is compounded when it is desirable to preload the flexible contacts so that they provide a given interengaging force with their mating contacts, and any deformation of the flexible contacts would destroy the particular preload.
This invention is directed to solving these problems by providing a surface engageable contact system wherein the interengaging contacts have a wiping action during mating, wherein the flexible contact is provided with a preload, and wherein means are provided for resisting flexing of the flexible contact if engaged in a direction other than the intended abutting direction of the mating rigid contact.